Ladybugs bear personal significance in a couple of ways. My first dog was named Lady but I often called her Ladybug and we traveled lots of childhood miles together. Ladybugs are also somewhat of a namesake. My nickname is Jude. I shared my idea with dear friends a couple years ago that if I had a Volkswagon beetle I would have it custom painted red with black dots, the headlights would look like eyes, and my vanity plate would say "Judebug". Since then, we have enjoyed the ladybug theme in various gifts between us... therefore, my travel bugs are depicted by 'Judebugs'. The letters "A" and "B" portray the term "Traveling From A to B".
My design was sketched freehand, translated to hand dyed fabric and embellished with running and back stitched embroidery, hand painted houses using Lumiere metallic, Pigma pen colored ladybugs and machine anchored three dimensional synthetic leaves. Machine quilted details were free-motion stitched with clear mono-filament. Unsure if I should add more quilting to the background, I refrained with the idea that I could always add more later.
Originally I'd planned to create a background fabric with Sharpie Markers and Alcohol dyeing but the result was too dark so it became the backside and binding of the quilt. This is a dye technique new to me, which I will further explore.
 |
| I started with these colors scribbled on a white on white fabric but the result was too pale so I added darker colors that aren't being shown here. |
 |
| This is the 'wrong side' of the dyed fabric, which offers a pale alternative of the original. |
 | |
| I had just enough fabric for both the backing and binding and a scrappy label. |
